Constable: 2 singers celebrate half-century of harmony

Members of different churches, young suburban moms Betty Jarosch and Carol Cahill-Brown embraced the idea of several congregations joining forces in 1965 for a community chorus concert in Elk Grove Village to show support for civil rights and the march from Selma to Montgomery.

A half-century later, Jarosch and Cahill-Brown are still singing together with The Festival Chorus, even if Jarosch sits at one end of the risers and Cahill-Brown sits at the other.

"You're an alto and I'm a soprano, and ne'er the twain shall meet," kids Jarosch, 81, starting a chuckle that spreads to her 76-year-old choral buddy.

The pair are the only two original members still singing with The Festival Chorus as the community musical group celebrates its 50th anniversary May 3 with a special concert at the performing arts center at Harper College in Palatine. The Elk Grove Historical Museum features an exhibit celebrating the 50 years of music, but Jarosch and Cahill-Brown never set out to be part of suburban history. They just never stopped singing.

"It's just a way of life," says Cahill-Brown, who now lives in Hoffman Estates with her husband, Richard Brown.

The community chorus, open to everyone regardless of musical abilities and experience, was inspired by the Rev. John Ward Morrison, pastor of Queen of the Rosary Catholic Church, remembers Anthony "Tony" Mostardo, who became the first conductor of The Festival Chorus.

"Father Morrison asked if we could combine choirs to honor Martin Luther King, and I said, 'Certainly,' and that was the beginning," says Mostardo, who says the religious community wanted to provide some peaceful harmony as an alternative to all the violence and ugliness of that turbulent era.

In addition to his musical position with the Queen of the Rosary, Mostardo, an accomplished musician and teacher, served as principal at the Clearmont Elementary School in Elk Grove Village. He asked his friend, Daniel Cahill, principal at Devonshire Elementary School in Des Plaines, to join the chorus.

"He said, 'I don't sing a note, but my wife sings,'" remembers Cahill-Brown, who was married to Cahill at the time. "At the first meeting, Tony asked me to make up the program. I wrote something up and I ran it off, one sheet."

Jarosch and her husband, Herb, sang with the choir at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit. The joint concert was so fun, they kept the group going, practicing at Clearmont Elementary School until they finally hooked up with Harper College.

"We had a wonderful time," remembers Mostardo, 86, who retired to California and now is in his 15th year as conductor of the San Diego Festival Chorus he founded in his new home. "We were very close and spent many days together. The music brought everyone together. We were a musical family."

That family sings everything from opera to show tunes and draws a variety of singers from across the suburbs and beyond, says Marcy Heston of Bartlett, who is in her second stint as president of The Festival Chorus. There are no auditions, and no one is turned away.

"That's not what we do. This is a community chorus, and if people want to sing, they can sing. There are a lot of people who don't read music at all, up to professionals," says Heston, a first soprano, who says she fits somewhere in the middle. From college students to octogenarians, members all have one thing in common: "The love of singing, the love of performing, the love of performing with a professional orchestra," Heston says.

Members pay $100 to join, and most of that money goes toward hiring the orchestra or paying professional soloists. The group also has taken trips to perform in Rome and throughout Europe. After Mostardo retired, the group was conducted by Edwin Kemp and is now in its fifth season under the direction of Ann Espel, vocal director at Schaumburg High School. Espel works with teenagers daily in high school choral groups and practices for 2½ hours every Monday with adults in The Festival Chorus.

"There are big differences, but they are more similar than you'd think," Espel says. One of the similarities revolves around the friendships and snacks. Jarosch, matriarch of the family's legendary Jarosch Bakery in Elk Grove Village, still handles that department.

"Betty brings sweet rolls, so we have coffee and sweet rolls every night, and people sit out here and eat their sweet rolls and kibitz," Heston says. Jarosch's daughter, Beverly Tipps, 58, of Algonquin, who studied piano with Mostardo and continued her music education in college, now accompanies The Festival Chorus for practices and special performances in the community.

In addition to the good times and exotic trips, Cahill-Brown says she remembers the special costumes they wore for the 25th anniversary performance with songs from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Jarosch recalls the May 2, 1993, concert when she and her husband celebrated their 40 years of marriage. "His last concert," Jarosch says, explaining that he died the next year. "We did a duet: 'People Will Say We're In Love.'"

Music, and the fellowship of the chorus, helps support members in times of sorrow.

"Music never really leaves you. It becomes your heart and soul," says Mostardo, who credits music with helping him cope with the death from a brain tumor of his first wife, Shirley, and the child she was carrying. Unable to return for the 50th anniversary performance because he'll be conducting his San Diego chorus that night, Mostardo, who now is married to fellow musician Greta Edwards, says he'll see his chorus "family" when he returns on Father's Day weekend to visit his son, Mark, in Bartlett.

"It's always been very special to be in the chorus," says Cahill-Brown, who stayed with the choir through the death of her first husband. "I love singing."

They all share that common trait.

"It becomes like a family. You get close," Jarosch says. "And, the music is beautiful."

Celebrating 50 years as community chorus

The Festival Chorus Concert

When: 3 p.m., Sunday, May 3

Where: Performing Arts Center, Harper College, Palatine

Cost: $12 to $18

Tickets: (847) 925-6100, or harpercollege.edu/boxoffice